Just Another Day at the Office
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first to take full advantage of the electronic age to bring the presidency to the people. His “fireside chats” – dozens of evening radio addresses over the course of a decade – were used to inform the nation about his administration’s actions regarding everything from World War II to the Great Depression. In one of his earliest chats, on May 7, 1933, Roosevelt outlined the tenets of the New Deal. The addresses mostly dealt with the economy and government programs until the war broke out. On Dec. 9, 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt explained on-air to Americans why the country was entering the war and tried to prepare the nation for a hard, long fight. “We are now in this war. We are all in it, all the way,” Roosevelt said. “Every single man, woman and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum )
While not using the “fireside chat” format, President Harry S.Truman still used radio to address the nation at critical moments. He delivered a broadcast on May 8, 1945, on the surrender of Germany. He delivered another on Sept. 1, 1945, on the surrender of Japan. Subsequent addresses dealt with issues ranging from the 1946 railroad strike to the U.S. entry into the Korean War. (Harry Truman Library and Museum )
President Eisenhower chose to address the nation at a time when racial tensions were flaring. On Sept. 24, 1957, after an angry mob tried to prevent black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock, the president publicly expressed his resolve to carry out the decision of the Supreme Court to integrate the schools. He blamed those trying to thwart that effort as "demagogic extremists" and "disorderly mobs" and appealed to the nation to restore order. "A foundation of our American way of life is our national respect for law," he said. (The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum)
President John F. Kennedy addressed the nation from the Oval Office to demonstrate strength toward the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis and, later, to press for civil rights legislation. The young president delivered his first major address on Oct. 22, 1962, explaining to the country the troubling developments in Cuba. In the address, he called the missile build-up a “clear and present danger” and announced a series of steps to monitor the island and press the Soviet Union to reverse what he called the “clandestine, reckless and provocative threat.” The following June, Kennedy used the forum to press Congress to pass civil rights legislation – what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – giving everyone “the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public.” Kennedy called it an “elementary right.” (John F. Kennedy Library and Museum )
President Lyndon Johnson’s 1968 address from the Oval Office was made to announce two critical decisions – one of policy, one of politics. In the March 31 address, Johnson spent most of his time explaining how his administration would be taking steps to limit U.S. military action in Vietnam. “I am taking the first step to de-escalate the conflict,” he said, ordering U.S. aircraft and vessels to halt attacks on certain areas of North Vietnam. Johnson concluded with the announcement that he would not run for another term. Citing sharp divisions in America, Johnson told the nation he did not want to “permit the presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year.” (Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum )
President Richard M. Nixon’s two most important Oval Office addresses came at the beginning and end of his presidency. The first, in November 1969, was to lay out his approach to the Vietnam War. In the address, he appealed to the “silent majority” – his term for those Americans who were not on the streets protesting the war effort – to support his plan to pursue a negotiated settlement and not call for an immediate troop withdrawal. Nixon warned that a U.S. defeat in Vietnam would trigger “a collapse of confidence in American leadership,” while still pledging to end the war responsibly. Then, in 1974, Nixon entered the Oval Office to resign following the Watergate scandal. “I have never been a quitter,” Nixon lamented. “But as president, I must put the interests of America first.” (Richard Nixon Library and Museum )
President Ford announced one of his most important decisions as president -- his pardon of Nixon -- in the opening days of his administration. "I have come to a decision which I felt I should tell you and all of my fellow American citizens," he began on Sept. 8, 1974, before explaining to America that a pardon of his predecessor was the best decision for the country. "Theirs is an American tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must," Ford said. (Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum )
President Jimmy Carter entered the Oval Office several times during his one-term presidency to address the nation about a series of domestic and international crises. Carter used his early addresses to press the cause of energy independence. He called for a national energy plan in an April 18, 1977, address and repeated those themes again in his July 15, 1979, address which would later be dubbed his “malaise” speech. Though the word “malaise,” did not appear in the text, Carter conjured a portrait of American despair by declaring a “crisis of confidence.” “It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will,” he said. He again addressed the nation on Jan. 4, 1980, to talk about the implications of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and on April 25, 1980, to provide details about the failed rescue attempt of hostages in Iran that left eight U.S crewmen dead.
President Ronald Reagan, the “great communicator,” was compelled to speak to America from the Oval Office following several tragedies and significant international breakthroughs during his two terms. Early on, Reagan addressed the nation after horrific violence broke out in Lebanon at the close of the 1982 Lebanon War. The president called for the international community to help the government reassert authority and said there is “no alternative” to American forces returning to the country to assist. He addressed the nation again on Jan. 28, 1986, at a time of national tragedy, when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart at the start of its mission, killing seven crew members. The president expressed his condolences and ended with the memorable line of poetry: they “slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God.” Reagan returned to the Oval Office a few months later in April to discuss the air strike against Libya and again in on Dec. 10, 1987, to provide details about his meetings with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. (Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)
President George H.W. Bush used his first major Oval Office address to announce the most solemn and serious of presidential decisions – going to war. On Jan. 16, 1991, the president announced that allied forces had launched an air strike on targets in Iraq and Kuwait. Succinctly, the president explained that Saddam Hussein started the conflict by invading Kuwait and that allied forces would drive him out. “We will not fail,” Bush said. More than a year later, Bush returned to address the Los Angeles race riots that had erupted following the acquittal of officers accused of beating motorist Rodney King. Bush condemned police brutality and assured the nation that the verdict was not the end of the justice process, while also condemning the violence that had broken out in Los Angeles. “The wanton destruction of life and property is not a legitimate expression of outrage with injustice,” he said. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)
President Bill Clinton’s call to military action came much later in his presidency than it did for his predecessor. The violence in Kosovo changed the dynamic for the otherwise peacetime president, who on March 24, 1999, addressed the nation from the Oval Office to explain why U.S. forces had joined with NATO partners in air strikes against Serbian forces. Clinton explained that the intervention was necessary to halt the brutalities committed against Kosovo residents and to “defuse a powder keg at the heart of Europe.” “We act to protect thousands of innocent people in Kosovo from a mounting military offensive. We act to prevent a wider war,” he said. (William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum )
President George W. Bush’s two major Oval Office addresses were used to ready the nation for war. The first was delivered the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Though the Afghanistan war would not begin for another month, the president in his speech tried to rally the nation and ready Americans for whatever steps would come next to protect the country. “A great people has been moved to defend a great nation,” Bush said, pledging to bring to justice the perpetrators of “these evil acts.” He acknowledged the many emotions the country was experiencing mere hours after the attacks on New York City and Washington, saying the images of destruction “filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger.” Bush next addressed the nation on March 19, 2003, to announce that coalition forces had started “military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” (White House Photo)
President Obama delivered his first Oval Office address in the middle of the catastrophic BP oil spill. The address came nearly two months after a Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the spill in the Gulf of Mexico that would send millions of gallons of oil into the waters. In his address, the president assured Gulf Coast residents that his administration would make sure they are compensated for economic damages and the environment is restored in the long term. He also tried to build support for a legislative package that would regulate emissions and increase alternative energy investment, using the oil spill as an example of why the nation should wean itself off fossil fuels. “The consequences of our inaction are now in plain sight,” Obama said. (AP)